


Their Family

by Elise_Davidson



Category: Scrubs
Genre: Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2018-02-19 14:37:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2391950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elise_Davidson/pseuds/Elise_Davidson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack already knows what a family is.  Perry decides he agrees with Jack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Their Family

Perry sat on the bench as the sun started to shift further to the horizon. Jack didn't seem to be showing signs of tiring either, though Jenny lay calmly asleep in JD's arms. Jordan and Sam were still at the swings, but Sam had already yawned a couple of times.

Jack, however, was at the top of the jungle gym and going strong. He'd already fallen twice, much to Jordan's horror, and still gotten back up to the top.

Perry glanced at his watch. It was getting late; the younger two were supposed to be in bed already (as was evidenced when Jordan joined them on the bench with Sam curled   
against her shoulder). He climbed easily to the top with Jack, who had perched himself in the middle.

"What's on your mind, Jack?" Perry asked casually, folding his arms and balancing with his feet on the bars.

Jack shrugged. For a seven-year-old, he looked deeply in thought. He frowned, as if trying to find the words he wanted to say. He looked at his father, and then back to Jordan and JD, who were currently trying to shuffle Jenny and Sam into the car without waking them.

"Tristan Baker says our family's not normal," Jack finally said.

"What does a kid with a name like Tristan know anyway?" Perry asked, though he already felt the guilt clawing at his stomach.

Jack shrugged. "He's a wimp. I told him families just have to love each other."

"That's very wise of you, Jack."

"Besides, I got to push him off the slide," Jack replied, as if bolstering his argument. "He bumped his knee at the bottom, and he was a crybaby about it."

"Well, not all kids can be as tough as you," Perry said jokingly, tickling his son gently.

Jack giggled reluctantly, gripping the bars to stay in place. "We're not a normal family though, right?" he asked carefully.

Perry sighed; Jack was getting old enough to ask the hard questions now. "There's lots of different kinds of families, Jack." It was his turn now to mirror the look on Jack's face from earlier, searching for the words he wanted to say so that Jack would understand.

"Families just have to love each other," Jack said again. "And be nice to each other. Like Izzy's mommy and daddy."

"Well, you're just in luck, buddy," Perry said, grabbing him around the waist and walking them carefully down the bars. "You've got two daddies and a mommy to love you and be nice to you."

Jack pondered this for a moment before splitting into a grin. "So I've got three, and Tristan Baker's only got two, right?"

"That's right, kiddo," Perry said, though he had wanted the point to sit deeper with his son.

Jack seemed to be satisfied at the sheer numerical imbalance. "You wait till I tell Tristan. He probably doesn't even know that three is more than two."

Perry snorted. "With a name like Tristan, I doubt he knows much of anything."

"Well, him and Gene were having trouble with the math we did yesterday at school. And Mrs. Jeffries tried to get me to help them, but I wouldn't and she put me in time-out."

"Well, you should always help, even if you don't like someone," JD said as they approached the car. "You won't like it, but it's the right thing to do."

Jack shrugged, as if this was unimportant, and he climbed into the backseat.

The drive home was fairly uneventful, though getting Jack to lie down (as always) took a few minutes. Perry finally got him to go down with the promise that there would be waffles in the morning.

Perry came out to where Jordan and JD fought over what to watch. Jordan, being Perry's wife at one point, wanted to watch hockey. JD was arguing hard that figure skating was not all that different from hockey.

They both involved ice and skates, didn't they?

With a roll of his eyes, Perry sat down with them. "You're making waffles in the morning, Charlotte."

JD twisted, relinquishing control of the remote by his distraction. He groaned. "You two are in this together, I swear to god."

"Quit whining; you lost," Jordan replied simply, and flipped the game on.

JD winced as someone got body-checked into the plexiglass wall of the arena. "Not that I ever mind waffles, but why?"

"Jack needed a bribe for sleep," Perry replied with an absent wave. "Some punk at school was telling him that we don't have a normal family."

JD snorted. "All a family needs are people who care about each other and look out for one another."

Perry shifted his gaze to JD finally. "That's where he got it. He said it to the kid before he shoved him off the slide."

Jordan chuckled. "That's our boy," she murmured.

JD shrugged at his simple explanation for family. "It's what Jordan told Sam and Jenny."

Perry looked over at Jordan, who was going red at the ears and high in her cheeks. "Aw, Jordaroo! I didn't know you had it in you!"

Jordan threw the remote and hit him square in the chest. "You breathe another word of this and I'll castrate you. And it won't be quickly."

"I can feel the family love and protection," JD muttered sullenly, crossing his arms with a pout.

Perry sat back on the couch, sliding his arm over JD's shoulders and letting Jordan curl into his side. "No talking during the game, Jessica."

JD shrugged, but stayed silent for a moment. He pondered the real meaning of a family, wondering if Perry had ever known that feeling. He thought that Jordan had an inkling at least, with Ben and Danni (even if they hadn't always gotten along) just as he'd had with Dan.

Perry kept it together well enough, though it was always apparent when he had a bad day. He never took it out on anyone around him when the kids were present, something JD was grateful for. He supposed that Perry had learned after the transplant patients and Jack's first sentence really had been that his daddy drank a lot.

JD laid his head on Perry's shoulder, cringing when someone got thrown across the ice. It may not have been the family he pictured or the one he'd always wanted, but he couldn't deny the swell of home that rose up within him as Jordan jeered at the goalie and Perry swore at the referee.

He grinned. Maybe Jordan had a point for once about families and love. It wouldn't be the first time, and he was certain it wouldn't be the last.

But for right now, JD settled back and started to pick up the rules of hockey and why, exactly, Perry loved the Detroit Red Wings so very much.

xFINx


End file.
